Solid work but no big surprises on the Croisette

CANNES — The skies may be just as sunny and the Riviera beachfront as dazzling, but the mood at Cannes 2003 is more somber than last year's. And the movies, so far, are not as memorable.

As journalists wend their way through security checkpoints at the Palais du Cinema and up and down the still-glorious beach walk on the Croisette, it's clear that no film has yet won the large-scale approval -- much less the excitement -- of a "Pulp Fiction" or a "Secrets & Lies," or enjoyed the acclaim of last year's leading films, "The Pianist," "Bowling for Columbine" and "The Man Without a Past."

But there have been some fine works and new discoveries -- the most popular by far being "Les Triplettes de Belleville" ("Belleville Rendez-Vous"), a delightful French-language animated feature by first-time French-Canadian writer-director Sylvain Chomet. Chomet's charmingly askew line-drawing animations, which suggest a Jacques Tati film redrawn by Ronald Searle, bring tremendous verve and originality to his story: It's the witty tale of a determined grandma, a fat and faithful dog and three over-the-hill singing sisters battling the French wine Mafia.

Chomet's film was celebrated at its out-of-competition screening with a 10-minute standing ovation, and it was a welcome entry at a festival which tends to draw every year from the same pool of recognized directors, including previous competitors Andre Techine (who showed "Les Egares" this year), Alexander Sokurov ("Father and Son"), Lars Von Trier ("Dogville") and Clint Eastwood ("Mystic River').

Yet Cannes is also charged with the mission of discovery, of showcasing new talent, as it did in 1998 with the Iranian helmer Samira Makhmalbaf ("La Pomme"). His 2003 film, "Panj e Asr" ("5 O' Clock in the Afternoon") underscored the somber tone with its portrayal of the struggle for survival following the Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

"American Splendor" was discovered already at this year's Sundance Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. Based on the acerbic and autobiographical comic book series by a Robert Crumb crony, writer Harvey Pekar, it's a crisply shot, multilevel portrait of the triumph of a seeming American loser.

Other Cannes discoveries include Gilles Marchand's nightmarish and compelling French hospital thriller, "Who Killed Bambi?" in which a frightened young nurse (Sophie Quinton) is bedeviled by a handsome and perhaps murderous surgeon (Laurent Lucas).

"Uzak" is a visually remarkable work from Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Ceylan has an amazing eye and a set of influences, invoked here, which include Russia's cinematic poet Andrei Tarkovsky. "Uzak" is about an alienated photographer in Istanbul whose malaise mounts while he plays host to a young relative from the provinces. It's a bittersweet film, and its images of the city under gray skies and snowfall are genuinely beautiful and haunting.

Finally, there's Scottish writer-director David Mackenzie's "Young Adam." Set on a barge in Glasgow in the 1950s and based on the novel by Beat Generation literary icon Alexander Trocchi ("Cain's Book"), it's likely to stir considerable interest and heat here later this year. Trocchi was a controversial figure, a brilliant and unsparing writer who destroyed his own life (and others') with a raging heroin habit. Trocchi is his own inspiration for "Young Adam's" Joe (Ewan McGregor), a sexually uninhibited barge worker living with unhappily married employers Tilda Swinton and Peter Mullan. This grim, unsentimental work is notable for its anti-hero's extraordinary selfishness and its unremitting candor.

These four could possibly make a post-Cannes breakthrough. But, fittingly, the Cannes film that received the longest audience ovation so far was by another old reliable. Italian veteran Pupi Avati ("The Best Man"), born in 1938, delighted crowds with "Il Cuore Altrove" ("A Heart Elsewhere"), a funny and moving romantic drama about a shy, homely Latin teacher (Neri Marcore) who wins the heart of a beautiful blind girl (the stunning Vanessa Incontrada) and suffers at the thought she may regain her sight and leave him. Some critics here found "Cuore" sentimental; I agreed more with the audience.